10/23 and tapped the keg for the first time. It's been lagering since 7/13, and been in the keg since 8/15. And I'm disappointed.

It's got a bit of a slimy moutfeel on the finish, but no worse than any other lager I've had. What I didn't expect was the very off flavor and smell.

When I stick my nose in the glass the first image I got was some lychee fruit ice cream I had in San Fransisco. It's kind of a sickly-sweet smell. The flavor is definitely malty, but way off. I'm having trouble describing exactly what I'm tasting here.

I'll have to wait for my wife to get home and see if she can put her finger on some of the flavors. I'm definitely not getting butterscotch or hot, alcohol flavors. Doesn't smell like wet garbage. Maybe a hint of butter.

The wife agrees that it's "definitely not good." She couldn't pinpoint any flavors until I asked, "Bandaids?" That got an immediate, "Yes! Bandaids!"

Looks like my first dump. It's really nasty. The smell is nauseating me.

Any theories on what went wrong here? I only used Starsan for sanitizing and am very anal-retentive about sanitation.

Thanks,

-Joe

Well, before you dump, take it out and keep it at room temperature for a month, then try again. Bandaids isn't good, but slimy to me means "slick, oily" which is probably diacetyl. If you can clean up that diacetyl, maybe the bandaids can clean up too.

__________________Broken Leg BreweryGiving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Well, some good news. I poured off a few pints and it's no longer nauseating There's still that odd fruit smell at the onset, but the flavor has cleaned considerably and now I"m getting a lot of yeast flavor. I'm hopeful that it'll get better as we go. I gave my friend a pint and he said, "Yeah, I'll drink that." So it could be worse

Well, even better news. Everyone at the party raved about the Oktoberfest lager. People were drinking glass after glass. I tasted it again and it still tasted funky to me. Not dump it in the sink funky, but not hey this is great beer, either.

Folks seemed to like the Apricot Wheat, but the lager and the ESB were the two biggest sellers. One of my neighbors who is a die hard Bud drinker had 6 pints of the ESB.

And of course, the Apfelwein went like water I was carrying pitchers of it upstairs.

Glad to hear it wound up well in the end! One trick I learned, for when I need to dispose of some .. um .. "interesting" beer.......... is to loosen up my guests with a couple of tequila shots first, then give them 20 minutes to marinate in it. After that, they'll drink anything that comes out of a tap!